Guild Art Online
by Wyverntooth
Summary: When gamers have control of what happens to their experiences...is when the games become realer than real. One man wanted a world like this, but he needed help. By enlisting the help of several pros, he makes something better than anything before it. But what happens when his most fantastic dream becomes his worst nightmare? Care to find out? (Indefinite hiatus)
Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! I'm _sorry_ , okay?! Every author needs a break an' this idea's been needin' to get made real 'cause SAO, for all its gorgeous art an' entertainin' fight scenes, its characters are more generic than a textbook description'o their roles! 'Specially Kazuto-Kirito if ya haven't gotten that far in the story, if ya can call it that-an' I've wanted to tackle this beast of a burden for a while now, so this's as good a time as any.

I'mma let ya'll know now, the once bland, 1D builds anime fans called characters're gonna actually be just that: characters. They're gonna be 3D, have backstories an' feel real! However, if I fail at makin' 'em such, I'm sorry an' I can't fix the fact there's barely anythin' to use from the builds they were. Asuna's gonna be a strong, independent female who won't take bullshit. Lizbeth's gonna be competent 'nough to make a sturdy sword an' be more than just the walkin' 'say something relevant to the plot and brush it off as nothing'-cliche we saw in canon. Silica, as adorable as she is, won't be babysat or given 'special'(A.K.A. lolicon hentai material. On that note, will _someone_ explain to me why that in almost any anime or PG movie that perverts are always goin' for the underwear?! A bra, sure, maybe a _thong!_ But _just generic panties?!_ NOOOOO! No self-respectin', perverted pain in the ass's gonna settle for _just_ the panties! They'd want what's underneath it! An' the same goes for female characters, too! They'd find a character's muscles hot but they shouldn't be bleedin' their arteries outta their noses at the sight of any random person with abs or strong biceps walkin' in front of 'em!)

Kirito's gonna be anti-social in at least one sense'o the word, 'cause canon said it was anti-social yet it was the _EXACT FUCKIN' OPPOSITE!_ THAT'S FUCKIN' RIGHT! I DON'T DIGNIFY THE KIRITO DRAWIN' WITH GENDER _OR_ AS A CHARACTER BUILD! THAT'S HOW PLAIN IT WAS! I'VE FOUND MARY SUES AN' GARY STUES WITH MORE DEPTH THAN THAT! It's also gonna be a bit more developed in its behavior as a character I'll deepen. Klein an' Agil're gonna both have time in the series without feelin' forced or overdone 'cause they'll be relevant an' enjoyable. An' the villain...*Drumroll begins in the background* Will be an actual villain!

Don't _anybody-I MEAN ANYBODY!-give me the bullshit excuse that villains do evil things just 'cause they're evil!_ Without villains, heroes would be absolutely nothin' an' they deserve to be people more than the heroes! If anyone tells me the characters in my story are OOC, ya'd better have a damn good explanation to back it up 'cause all'o SAO there's no character development at fuckin' all! Kirito's blander than a pile'o dust, Asuna's a would-be strong female character, Agil's the only build for a character of African descent, Klein's there for comic relief only, Lizbeth's only there to act as the jealous an' vindictive girl in the harem, an' Silica's there to be the loli porn object!

I'm sorry, if I offend any fans'o the franchise, I'm not sayin' it's bad to watch. I enjoyed watchin' it, but I'm a writer an' that means I look for 3D characters I can relate to, not just crayons bein' tossed onto a paper an' it bein' called a character! If I'm comin' off as overharsh or mean, it's 'cause this franchise had such potential that was destroyed by the person who wrote it! It was dark, there were kids' lives on the line, yet everybody brushed it off an' continued like it was nothin'!

Anyway, since beta-testers aren't always from the same country or speak the same language, the main characters're gonna be speakin' in their inherent languages an' be translated to English when round up 'cause ya'll wanna read what they say, I hope. Word'o warnin', I haven't made a story with more than one or two constant languages 'fore, so I haven't come up with a formula to balance out the translation ya'll can understand an' the raw language(s) used which means the English'll be inconsistent for a while 'til I can figure out a way to balance it out.

Just so ya'll know, my story's gonna be different from canon in timeline as well. Dates an' timeskips won't always line up like they did in canon. Needed ya'll to know that so ya'll aren't caught off-guard by the moves I'll make. Also, some'o the characters are from other series but this doesn't count as a crossover 'cause all'o my stories are intertwined in some way. Nothin' of SAO or its later series are mine, they're all sittin' at the top'o my 'what could have been' pile, an' they belong to the original owners who I won't even speak the name of! Anyway, sorry for the rant, let's get started.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasin'

"Normal speech"

Item names

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

(Cue: Melanie Martez-Mad Hatter) All great ideas have flaws. This is an indisputable fact in any universe. Perfection in unattainable, and even if it weren't unattainable, there would be no more reason to exist than there already is. When a great idea is born, it's been thought up before by another being, but it's not the idea that's important...it's how it's bettered and influenced down the line. For a small group of gamers, hackers, forward thinkers and beta-testers, this fact was truer than the world they walked upon or the people they spoke to occasionally.

"Okay," Said a young male voice, the sound coming from some speakers on a desk next to a man typing into a computer the codes and information like lightning. "How about we have the agro-range vary between type, level, size and skill? That way, the enemies can be snuck up on or take out players in a way that seems believable instead of the set range we see all throughout the entire game. And-"

"Why don't we," Interrupted a mature female voice from the same speaker, excitement obvious in all of the voice's tones. "Give the agro-range a sort of 'roll of the dice'-deal where, depending on where the wind's blowing, their range increases?" The man at the computer continued to type in these ideas, taking a drink and bite out of a bread stick from a popular restaurant chain.

From out of nowhere came another pair of voices, these one using the same speaker as the other two but finishing each other's words like they were the same person or something similar, one a young girl and the other an older boy. "If we're bringing that in to make the game harder, what if we give each object-regardless of size-its own existence so we can use more than just our weapons or items to kill weak enemies or to give bosses as well as other enemies a slight edge in the environment? This would make it very real and give players a reason to play it harder to beat their enemies and be given items that they'll think is understandable as well enjoyable. If, say, a noob starts playing and they're getting their ass handed to them by a bandit then start using the environment to their advantage, they get random loot from other players the bandit's killed before!"

"Using realistic qualities to a VRMMORPG's environment is brilliant in that also means if someone needs to make a trap they can't carry around they can just use the materials around them to jerry-rig themselves a trap or weapon if their's breaks. It's fair, fun and believable but we have to tune down the realistic quality or our already shitty society's going to go even more to Hell, plus the budget wouldn't be able to let us do that and we wouldn't be able to take the lawsuits." This was from a mature male, his voice sounding raspy as if dry or sick.

"You okay there, Y-it-san?" The man at the computer asked offhandedly, his hands typing up a storm and his eyes trained on the screen.

"He'll be fine," Another female voice answered, her tone stubborn and proud. "He's taken worse. Right, Y-it?" She said this like she was trying to poke fun at the raspy-voiced male.

"Shut up, you bitch! It's nothing, just a sore throat from screaming at my piss-poor connection, it won't last too long as I keep drink the watered-down honey," The 'eeww's and 'gross's made the named Y-it continue, "even if it tastes disgusting." As if to prove a point, the sound of drinking began in the background before a groan of 'ugh' followed.

"Let's make sure this doesn't fuck our connection up or give us lag, I don't want anymore complaints about translation or glitching from the lower level BTs!" Said the man at the computer, listening to all of txem intently as he multi-tasked. In another room were several people running around with concept artwork and rough strategy guides.

"On that note, how much did it cost you to make these multi-language translating speakers, Kayaba-san?" Asked the young girl who had been one of the two to mention the environmental usage-quality.

"Not much, actually!" Was the immediate response from the man typing with furious fingers. "It was just a custom upgrade to everyday computer speakers. Add into the fact this building has one of the fastest-working supercomputers in the world, and we're not actually using up much of our budget or our computer memory. Thanks to the program you made, Dhair-san, we're actually using less memory and processing faster!"

"It wasn't all that special, really..." Said the stubborn and proud-toned female, her voice now sounding embarrassed and flustered.

"That reminds me, Kayaba-san," Came the voice of the young male from earlier, curiosity apparent, making everyone in the chat look to his visual chatbox interestedly. "When's the release date? Looking at the back of the disc case it says 'this is an experience few people can resist from its amazing graphics to its special NPCs.' It was around the end of winter, right?"

Kayaba sighed at that, slouching towards the computer before leaning far back into his chair, making his back crack a few times as he stretched with a yawn and a few more pops from his joints. "Yeah, that's the release date, but I don't think we'll be able to pack everything in before then. I'm starting to think maybe this is a total wash or that it should be postponed for a few more years, you know? Until we've advanced enough to at least handle all of the things you mentioned all at once without it feeling too real." Looking up to the ceiling, he had this look of self-doubt and worry that none of the chat members could see but they put two and two together. "Hm..."

"It isn't a wash, not after all the work you've put into it! This is going to be the first of its kind: a realistic, fantasy VRMMORPG with phenomenal graphics and top-notch game mechanics. I can't think of a game anybody would be anticipating more than this!" They had all said this, not word for word, but that was what Kayaba could catch from them all speaking at once. Rubbing his eyes with his left hand's index finger and thumb, he chuckled softly and returned to sitting up to look at them thankfully.

"Arigato, DRYBACK..." He sighed their guild title with relief that they still believed in him, making them all grin proudly at the name and the fact they cheered up their temporary employer and friend.

"Non saremmo qui se non per voi."

"Don't mention it."

"We're not just here for the gaming, Kayaba-san!"

"Itulah gunanya teman, kawin."

"No hay problema."

"Drug poznayetsya v bede!"

"A, kuso! Setsuzoku no daun...Subete no nochi ni anata ni hanashimasu!" Waving goodbye, Kayaba left the chatroom while the others did the same with groans from it being the wee hours of the day. Looking to a calendar on the wall of the single, dying bulb-lit room, Kayaba sighed as he walked over and pressed his forehead to it after pulling a few pages up to the release date he had set for the game he had put so much effort into and had such high hopes for fulfilling his dream. But at the moment, even though he knew his friends doing the beta-testing weren't shallow or the bastards who had pretended to be friends with him only to stab him in the back, they were still just what their temporary job was with him: beta-testers. Giving their honest opinion-which was a surprise since they were being paid instead of the other beta-testers as a test that went well for him-and playing the game he and a few of his coworkers had made a beta of.

Once they were done testing the beta and the alpha was released, they would lose contact and go about their lives like nothing had changed. Y-it working in his smith and jerry-rigging junk into mechanisms that did simple tasks. Dhrair would be back to college, majoring in programming and minoring in social services. The adorable Chiji could only be going back to work as a part-time employee of a fastfood restaurant. 'Blank', as the two called themselves, would act as gaming gods and win games for a living with the side job of beta-testing other types of games. Row=man was an apprentice cook for a restaurant in his hometown. Kirito would be going to his highschool after the winter break. Al3x4 had a job teaching chemistry as well as some geology at a school for above average intelligence children.

Not many people knew this, but Kayaba was lonely. His parents were realists so they shot down the clouds of his child-like dreams like duck hunters while saying it was for the best, he was a dreamer which only made him a target for bullies, and he had a hard time making friends. Of course he had friends, and he loved all of them with every fiber of his being, but they weren't able to fill the hole he had known for most of his life. Not to say his life was horrible, but there was always the feeling he wasn't supposed to exist in this world and that he was in a watery world nary any drops to drink.

The light's flickering finally making him get the ladder and, after flicking the switch and making sure the power was off inside the fixture too with a non-contact voltage tester, removed the lightbulb carefully with an electrical glove over his hand as a stable means of protection. Removing the lightbulb, he brought out a flashlight from his toolbox for whenever something electrical fried, and stared at the filament to see why this lightbulb might have been having trouble remaining illuminated. _This isn't an old bulb, just a few months at most. So why would it be acting like it trying and failing miserably to induce seizures? The filament looks alright, just a little hot from the irregular cycles of lit and unlit. Maybe the socket needs to be fixed?_ He thought as he put the lightbulb onto his desk, the dark room lit only by his computer background of a younger him petting a parrot at the petting zoo with his mother holding it on her heavy-duty gloved hand while his father ruffled his father, both of his parents smiling at his excited expression.

Shining the flashlight up into the hanging lighting fixture and finding the tab at the center of it had sunk into the fixture, making him sigh again as he tightened his electrical gloves before he grabbed a flathead screwdriver and gently pried up on the tab before removing his hand and screwed the lightbulb back in. Flicking the switch, the lightbulb came to life with renewed glory, making him shield his eyes until his eyes readjusted. _Thank god I was a part of an electrical lab, otherwise I doubt I'd be able to figure out what the problem was._

Looking to the light sadly after his eyes readjust, the glow it gave off made him think to the sun that he would make, giving him a feeling of piece and a hint of sad happiness before the light flickered once as if something important were to happen. And it was true, because as soon as that happened, Kayaba then got an incredible idea. _Light and dark...Good and evil...Night and day...Hidden and seen...Wait,_ _Kirito's talked about how much he loves watching those ninja anime and reading similar manga...Dhrair's thought that there should be gods involved in the world to give certain perks to players who are their disciples...Y-it's all about enchantment and all about dark things like the novels/short stories written by H.P. Lovecraft! THAT'S IT!_ " _GENIUS!_ " His shout was muffled by the sound spikes on the walls, preventing anyone from eavesdropping on his conversations with the beta-testers and the changes they'll be making so that if the changes are taken away at a moment's notice that no one outside the chatting room would be working with those previous changes and just having to learn to scrap the modifications.

With the lightbulb now shining normally and constantly, Kayaba sat back down in his seat and began working on programming a few more changes to the game's coding and mechanics while keeping these changes away from the main coding stream to make sure only these ingenuous players and friends of his got the best he could give, they deserved the best for what he was going to do and they were better than the players his game was going to accumulate so they should feel better...(Uncue music)

 **Two years later.**

 **November 6th, 2022. 13:00 JST**

 **House in a less dense part of Japan**

In a dark, lit-dimly-by-computer-monitors room were a pair of siblings. The older one sat in a black swivel chair on wheels, he was a young man of tall and lean build as well as smooth fair skin as well maroon-black hair, and had a look of pride on his face as he panted from exertion, sweat rolling off his brow while he looked to the ceiling with one hand over his forehead and the other in a fist towards the ceiling panels in triumph. His red eyes had bags under them, sleep deprivation obvious in his form but leaving no lasting effect on his personality if his calm, proud chuckling was anything to go by. If anyone were to guess, they'd assume his irises were red from a lack of blue rays in natural sunlight. A yellow shirt with the kanji for 'I 3 humanity' sewn into it was his ironic choice of attire with a simple pair of skinny jeans that didn't impede his legs from moving properly.

On the desk in front of him were six computer monitors, each showing a different perspective and two computer mice connected to the tower all of them connected to. "Hey..." He wheezed between gasps to the other occupant of the room. "Mind handing me a-" Interrupting him was a can of liquid tossed carelessly at him, making him jolt and catch it with his once fist-bumping-the-air hand with the rest of his body loosening from the earlier exertion. "Arigato, Imoto...Holy Hell," Popping the tab, he started guzzling down greedily the fizzy liquid inside. "Remind me never to agro a Lvl. 90 boss when I'm only Lvl. 60, I mean ever!" Looking to the can label with a squint, he asked, "What brand is this? It tastes different from the usual Kohikora we get."

Finally answering him was the other occupant of the dimly lit room. "It's called 'Bud Light'. It's an alcoholic drink," The older sibling nearly choked as he guzzled at the mention of it being alcoholic. "Originally created in America before they branched out to other countries, Japan included. Even though you're under the age to be drinking and will probably have a low tolerance, one can't hurt." On the floor next to the swivel chair was a girl of pale-skin, average height, passive golden/yellow-red honey-colored eyes, and a slim build for an eleven year old wearing a loose-fitting purple sailor's outfit. Her hair was a long, messy white with pale tints of blue, purple, green, pink and yellow.

With a comically enraged look on his face, the older brother sat on his knees and extended the arm holding the canned beer towards his younger step-sister accusingly. "ARE YOU INSANE?! IF I GET DRUNK AND WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A BOSS BATTLE, WE'RE SCREWED! MY TOLERANCE IS LOW ENOUGH THAT I JUST MIGHT GET DRUNK AND ALCOHOL DULLS THE SENSES, I WON'T BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL!" His yelling done, he placed the can down on his desk and looked to his beloved sister seriously. "Besides, we're running out of companies to gamble with on how long it will take to beat their games. We've just about beaten every major game production in Japan and the minor ones probably won't come near us. If this keeps going the way it is we won't be able to buy rations or use electricity. It's amazing we've been able to get this far for the past two years since that Argus gig with the VRMMORPG..."

"It will be fine," Said the younger sister calmly, making her usually slyly grinning brother frown uncertainly. "There's always the option of being funded by Youtube or just social media in general. Chat, although not always the most reliable source, on some games has famous people who play games for a living and get paid for making reasonably lengthed videos that gain enough views."

"Doing that won't help." Her brother groaned out, looking at the monitors on his desk. "We have to be active members of society to be acknowledged by the people in charge of Youtube to be paid. They'd have to know our address or at the very least our Email address to send us our pay. We'd also need another account in a bank besides our parents' to save up and to build interest...that's a lot of things that would cut into game time and be too much of a hassle. Signing paperwork, getting credit cards, security numbers, give people our phone numbers in case something happens etc..." Slouching into his seat, he groaned as he rubbed his eyes in uncertainty. "It feels like our last gig as beta-testers was our last chance to get enough to build a method so we can stay afloat but now..." He looked to his now worried-looking sister as he stretched his arm to her as she came into his arms to hug him.

"Sometimes, Nisan, it doesn't pay to be a NEET..." And with that, the mood was changed as her brother started chuckling and a ding was heard from the monitors, making them look to it curiously. "Says it's from Kayaba-san...do you think he has a new game for us to beta-test? Maybe something that could fix this?" She said this hopefully, looking to her brother as he opened the message hurriedly, anticipation for a chance to keep them going just a little longer through this rough patch in his actions.

The message opened pretty casually, saying that he hoped they were in good health, spirits and that life was treating them well. But it got interesting when they reached the next part, talking about 'updates' and 'brand new content' Argus needed tested to make sure it was on par with what the rest of the world wanted and that he couldn't think of anybody else but the greatest VRMMORPG players in the world. Grinning at the praise, the brother brought his sister into his lap before clicking on the chat icon. "What do you say, Shiro," He said confidently. "Want to go another round with our old playmates?"

Silently, a look of anticipation on her face, his sister nodded as the stream opened.

 **A house in Mackinac City, Michigan**

Lightly grinding away at an unidentified metal piece, gritting his teeth in seemingly unrelated pain, he pulled away from the hollow grind to admire his handiwork of edging the now viewable and curve-bladed, basket-hilted sword. Removing his apron, gloves and mask, he revealed himself to be around the age of twenty-seven with a hardened face that held kindness not expected of someone who worked with hot metal and hard equipment all the time. His hair was dyed greenish-blue, with eyes the color of amber and sunkissed skin, he wasn't unattractive but the ash and burn marks on his face and arms did deter flirting from most people.

Now without his work clothes, he was left in a pair of camouflage cargo pants and a sleeveless shirt. A few scars covered his arms as well his chest if the marks being seen through the thin fabric were anything to go by. He was of above average height and healthy muscularity, but his most prominent feature was the tattoo of a dragon covering most of his back as it was clearly visible through his sleeveless shirt. As soon as the edging finished, he inspected it carefully. He then grabbed the weapon with a pair of prongs and place it in what looked like a closed-sided rain gutter full of oil, where the heat from the grinding's friction caused a few flames to stark licking around its blade.

Grabbing the prongs, he pulled the weapon out of the oil-filled closed-off rain gutter to lean it against the quenching container. Its edges were now quenched to be harder than they were before as well as 'prettier'. As it cooled down, the male got a rag that he then dabbed in polishing oil and began to polish the shine into the weapon before holding it like he had seen from tutorials to make sure he had made it properly. Taking a stance, he began clashing the weapon with an imaginary opponent's before standing to attention and bringing the blade up vertically in front of his face as a sign of respect and readiness.

Suddenly, the sound of the phone ringing caught his attention, making him put the sword down gently like it was a delicate flower before calmly striding over to the phone attached to the side of his garage's doorway into his house. Clearing his throat and answering in a deep voice expected from someone of his stature, "This is-" He stopped the friendly answering of his phone to take on a serious look on his face. "What?!" A look of surprise came to his features as he switched ears to listen to the other side of the line. "Okay, give me a few minutes so I can finish a custom order. I just finished it and I'd like to get it delivered as soon as possible so I don't forget later. Talk to you soon, Al3x4!"

Picking the sword back up tenderly, he brought out a leather scabbard he had made himself for this order. Strapping the scabbard to his hip, he sheathed the blade slowly, enjoying the sound of metal against leather. The greatest part was he hadn't actually used real leather, but the skins of animals that had died recently. It wasn't the most preferable choices of material, but it was more common and easier to tan than real leather, besides, the buyers didn't need to know... (If anyone could please explain the process o'makin' a basic basket-hilt sword as a blacksmith, please leave a review so I can fix this later on. The only way I know at all what some'o the stuff that goes on in a smithy's from _Man at Arms *Reforged*_ an' _Man at Arms_.)

 **An institution for intelligent children, Indonesia**

Cleaning up after her class was an attractive woman with a slim build and an intelligent mind. Her hair was spiky, the color being a vibrant red, and her attire like that of a lady in an office job with the black dress shirt and white khakis. Fair skin and emerald green eyes, she had long legs that seemed to go on forever as well as wide hips and a moderate bust as well as a skintone expected of the environment. Just as she finished putting away paperwork, a student who volunteered to help tutor came through the door with a woman in a flight attendant's uniform.

"Yang ini, maka?" She asked the student, only getting a shrug as he answered.

"bertanya dan dia bilang dia tahu Anda , bye." Quick as a flash, the student ran off, leaving the two women alone.

"You don't know me, but I know of you. I was sent here by Akihiko Kayaba-sama," The teacher's eyes widened slightly at the mention of her old friend and employer, as well as the woman's Japanese accent. "To offer you something to beta-test for the Argus corporation. It has already been delivered to your home as a sign of goodwill and familiarity, as well as the homes of your other coworkers/teammates. That's all I know, if you need more information then please contact Kayaba-sama, Al3x4-san." Now her eyes were wide. It was shocking how they had tracked her down to the institute she worked in even though she'd never told any of her friends from the beta-testing of SAO two years ago, but that was ruined by the woman's lousy attempt at speaking Indonesian

"How-"

"I cannot tell you anymore than that because that is all I know about any of this." With that, the woman in a flight attendant's uniform left without another word, leaving Al3x4 dumbstruck before she decided to do something crazy and costing. Pulling out her phone, she tapped in her security pin before dialing a number she had kept for...sentimental reasons.

"This is-"

"Y-it, it's Al3x4." She said hastily, cutting him off mid-phone-answer. "Turns out Kayaba's come up with something for our old group to test out, meaning we're going to get a taste of something special..."

"What?!" He said incredulously, the sound of him switching ears to hear her over the phone coming through.

"Some chick dressed in a flight attendant's outfit came by and said that everything's been delivered to my house and our friends' too. I'd say we finish whatever we're doing and get into the chat stream to make sure we're not being punked as well as if we've got everything in the event this isn't an elaborate prank." Her words made were met by the blacksmith answering excitedly.

"Okay, give me a few minutes so I can finish a custom order. I just finished it and I'd like to get it delivered as soon as possible so I don't forget later. Talk to you soon, Al3x4!" With that, they both hung up, getting everything they need done taken care of. When she finished filing all of the paperwork she went straight home, her eyes serious but at the same time relaxed and her face a cocky smirk.

 **A college dorm in Puebla, Mexico**

Behind a laptop stood a bespectacled young woman with strawberry-blonde hair, freckles and fair skin typing and strafing to the sides at seemingly random intervals. Her shirt was a tie-dye and her pants had string-fringes near the bottom of each leg. Although she looked like the stereotypical hippie or sudo-hippie, she was actually a complete computer nerd. Unlike most computer nerds, however, she wasn't afraid of making war not love. (*Snigger*) Compared to most college students, she was on the short side, but that was due to genetics as well as her small cup size and narrow hips.

Nice legs and a healthy amount of muscle on just about every inch of her body, she wasn't someone to mess with when scorned. Out of the blue, a video chat request popped up on her screen, exiting her from her game and ending her Audiosurf time. Groaning and crying melodramatically on the floor on all fours, she said, "No, yosi casi venser a los mejori puntuaciones!" Another ding from her laptop alerted her to more people connecting to the video chat, making her glare at her laptop before reading who was all on, making her eyes widen in surprise and confusion until she closed the door hurriedly and opened the chat with a smile. "Hola, viejos amigos! Como han estado todos?"

"Dhrair , ha conseguido recientemente el paquete enviado a usted en las últimas semanas?" Came the hasty, translated question from Blank, making Dhrair look to them curiously before she noticed Al3x4 had just got on and soon followed by Y-it.

"Si," Was her cautious answer. "Por que?"

"Bueno , eso significa que esto no es una broma. Kayaba tiene nuevos contenidos para poner a prueba a cabo para el Arte de Espada en Línea!" Said Y-it, his eyes as excited as ever and his attitude matching. "Leíste de quién era?"

"No, yo no soy bilingüe." Dhrair said simply.

"Nos muestran la dirección del remitente." Came the younger one of Blank's voice, making Dhrair bring the package over to the camera and show it the return address, recipient and location tag-area, making the two from Blank smile with glee as they translated it so everyone knew that it was from Argus and, more importantly, from Kayaba.

"Impresionante, la vieja banda está poniendo de nuevo juntos!" The excitement Dhrair exuded was enough to mistake her for a little girl holding hands with her crush or a comic book fan being able to meet their favorite comic books' author.

"Parece que," Came the older voice of Blank. "No se?"

 **Small town in Italy**

A scrawny-looking boy was napping, his bedsheets strewn about the room and his clothes all over the floor. "Romano, svegliare voi culo pigro!" And like that he was up, his dad calling up from the ground floor, and getting on his form-fitting red and blue-striped shirt as well as his equally form-fitting leopard-pattern pants that went down to just above his ankles. He wasn't that muscular, nor was he that tall, but he had a look about him that made him appealing in an odd way. Dark skin, blue eyes and bleach white hair, he was an oddball.

Yawning, he stretched and began hopping down the steps like a small child would only with nimble grace and poise. "Romano, non stiamo scherzando, è la tua ragazza dal vostro gioco!" Those words belonged to his dad as well even if it was a totally different man. That was the nice thing about small towns, everybody knew everybody else and there weren't a lot of issues amongst the people even if the rest of the world was hard on people like his family. However, it was the mention of him having a girlfriend from gaming that made him rush down the stares and slide a little bit on the slick, wooden floor.

Running to where his dads were, he nearly tripped when he saw the adorable face of, "GG?" In response, the cute girl struck him with a rolled up newspaper.

"Warui warui warui warui waruidesu!" Was what the short-term foreign-exchange student said angrily, making the young man's fathers start laughing hysterically at the antics of the young schoolgirl from Japan. When her highschool had decided to send her to Italy for a few weeks to learn about the culture, she had contacted the boy she was currently attacking and asked if it were okay with his parents if it were okay if she were over.

Of course, his dads were fine with it as long as the two didn't try to become adults, which fit nicely with their plans anyway since they had received the message from Kayaba as well. "Smettila di colpire!"

"Sonogo, `GG' watashi o yobidasu koto wa arimasen, watashinonamaeha Chihodesu!" Was her risen-voiced response before Roman ran up the stares and hid behind his now closed door as the girl chased after his ass hastily. She was dressed simply, so she wasn't impeded by fashionable articles of clothing. All she wore was a simple orange shirt with a plaid ribbon around the collar, a skirt that went down to her knees instead of just barely covering her underwear, and some knee-high socks. Of course she had removed her shoes, but she was right now thinking of retrieving them to attack the boy she had played games with.

Even though they couldn't speak the other's language, they understood what the other was saying clearly and didn't usually get confused unless met with words they'd never heard before, so speaking in their inherent language was fine for the two of them as well as Roman's fathers. This was the plan in cases when Kayaba's speakers or their translation programs failed, which only resulted in a few of their group from learning to speak any languages besides their inherent one(s)."Il nome del profilo suona lo stesso come la sigla di 'buon gioco', però! Salvare papà!"

"Chi di noi dovrebbe farlo?" Was the question his dads asked as one. The question made him groan and whimper behind his door, the enraged curvaceous girl threatening him with several words he didn't know the meaning of but he understood the jist of it. Suddenly, Roman's phone buzzed and made a br-ing sound, alerting him to a the fact he had a new text message which made him dashed to the side of his room where he charged his phone and flipped it open to quickly have wide eyes of surprise.

Finally, the aggravated transfer student invaded his small room. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it wasn't plain either. He had books on his shelves, a few of them books on psychology and the human condition while the rest were adventure novels such as the _Ranger's Apprentice_ series, _S_ _eraphina_ , and a few books from the _Toxic City_ series. All of his books were in other languages and he had dictionaries for those other languages, and dictionaries for the dictionaries which weren't in Italian just to be safe. Her anger forgotten in opt for the new experience of being in a boy's room, she asked, "Naze hoka no gengo no subete no shoseki ga arimasu, Roman-kun?"

Offhandedly, Roman said, "Perché voglio sapere cosa gli stranieri hanno da dire quando stanno parlando la loro lingua nativa..." The part-time employee of her local McDonalds chain came over to his side curiously, having noticed the distracted tone of his voice.

Not being able to read the European alphabet let alone Italian, she asked curiously, "Sore wa nan to itte imasu ka?"

"Dice che è da Kayaba e che lui ha qualcosa per noi di testare ... Sembra legittimo, ma potrebbe essere uno scherzo elaborare?" Roman answered simply, uncertainly. Suddenly, Roman's Mac revved to life-startling the two teens momentarily-as it woke up with a notification that he had a video chat request with their Beta SAO guild's insignia of a wild boar that had fire burning its back. Looking between each other uncertainly, Roman moved the cursor and clicked the icon which opened up a chatroom where their old friends were all waiting, except one...

 **Not far from the Blank siblings' house, Japan**

Reading through the letter that came with a package he'd gotten just a few minutes ago, an effeminate-looking boy sat in his chair with a serious look on his face. "...If the others got these too, why haven't they-" Just as he was about to ask why he hadn't been contacted, his phone rang with the obnoxious ringtone of his old guild saying in a translated Japanese, 'Pick up your damn phone, dumbass!', making him do as told and answer with a simple question of, "Kon'nichiwa?"

On the other end was Y-it, a bang of what the boy guessed was his femur against something metal in his house's limited walking space which was followed by the man hissing as he made an 'om' sound on most likely his hand. Removing whatever it was from his mouth, the blacksmith asked in a friendly tone underlined with pain from a lack of space for his large form, "Hey there, Ki, it's been a while, huh? Hey, just outta curiosity, have you received a-"

Speaking in Engrish, the boy interrupted saying, "Package with a letter saying it's from Kayaba-san, containing new content for us to try out for Sword Art Online before it's released to the public, right?"

All he got as an answer was a groan from the other side, making him express a look of empathy for his old guildmate and his neighbors giving him all their metal and wooden garbage he didn't have anywhere to actually put. "Yes, now if you wouldn't mind giving me a few moments, kid, I need to get some painkillers real quick...Damn fence poles!" The sound of a pill bottle being uncapped and something being pulled out as well as swallowed was heard by the boy. "Okay, now that I've taken my painkillers that'll kick-in in a few minutes, how've you been and why aren't you on the chat?"

"In order: I've been fine, just a feeling a little depressed and I'm busy reading the letter." He said it so flatly, as if he didn't care or like there was something more important, more depressing, on his mind. The sounds of ropes squeaking was heard which was followed by Y-it sighing in mild relief.

"You know any of us are usually able to talk to you when you need to, Kirito, what's eating you?" Y-it said, having caught heed of the boy's flat and depressed attitude. "It's not like you to keep unnecessary secrets from anybody you care about, so it's serious, but it also must pertain to predominantly you or you wouldn't be worried about it since your parents would-hss!"

Eyebrow cocked, the now-named Kirito asked his old guild's blacksmith the obvious question. "You okay over there?"

"Just another day in paradise, kid, don't worry too much about something you can't fix." Was Y-it's grateful-for-the-concern response, chuckling in fake indifference to his issues. "But, we're not talking about my issues, we're talking about you in your emotionally vulnerable and impressionable state of instability. Don't change the subject."

"I don't really want to talk about it," The boy began hesitantly, Y-it staying quiet on the other end patiently. "But I'm glad you're willing to listen, regardless. I'll get on the chat in a few moments, just need to make sure I won't forget anything concerning how the NerveGear works. Talk to you in a little bit, Y-it-san."

"Hey," Aforementioned blacksmith said honestly, groaning slightly in pain. "That's what semi-familiar strangers are for. It's not a problem to talk to people you meet as long as you make sure talking to them will come back to bite you. It's how I got through my adolescence, talking to semi-familiar strangers about issues that didn't involve them and talking to gaming friends. See you in the chatroom in a bit, kid." With that, the boy hung up and started reading the NerveGear instructions a few times before opening his video chat and requesting entry to his old group's usual room.

After the chat room finished opening and loading, Kirito was met with faces of his old friends from beta-testing SAO. "Kon'nichiwa, how's everyone been?"

"Not bad."

"Maybe a little tired."

"Should've slept longer."

"Aches and pains, but I'll manage."

"I was so close to beating the highscore on Audiosurf..."

"Pretty good now that I'm on solid ground."

"Can't complain too much after everything happening since having woken up a little under half an hour ago."

The answers varying, they didn't seem too different from how they were two years prior. Blank still consisted of the two siblings who looked exhausted from sleep deprivation, Dhrair was right now looking through her music albums like she usually would when in the chat, Al3x4 kept trying to crack her knuckles compulsively, Row=man and Chiji were the most energetic as they ran around the room they were in with loud noises going everywhere, and Y-it happened to be sitting in his hammock chair and drinking a can of-"Are you drinking Bud Light, Y-it-san?"

Said blacksmith pulled his lips away from the can with a refreshed sigh, looking to Sora and Shiro curiously. "Yeah," He said simply. "Why?"

"That stuff's disgusting and makes my vision blurry! How can you drink that?!" The young man's outburst made the large man bark in laughter, his face a cheeky grin before taking another drink from his beer can.

"Oh, you've tried it, have you? Hahahaha! Yeah," He admitted sincerely, looking at the letters on the front of the can thoughtfully. "It's not the best kind of beer you can drink, but it does the trick well enough to make up for its altogether generic flavor. When you get old enough and develop a tolerance, I'll give you a few names to look for so you can try some that might suit your fancy." Finished talking for a moment he drank from the beer can once more before shaking the now-emptied can boredly before popping the tab off and putting it in a freezer bag next to his hammock chair.

Shaking her head, Al3x4 said accusingly, "Isn't it too early to be drinking in Michigan? It's probably-what-three P.M. up there."

"Hey," He said calmly, "Five'o'clock's about two hours away and if we're doing this I'd like to at least be able to compare real alcohol with virtual via taste-test! I'm getting well acquainted with the flavor of everyday beer so I'll be able to tell the difference from the fake stuff." With that, he started drinking another one. "Besides, my tolerance is high enough so I won't get hammered after just two cans."

A groan from the teacher in their group was all that answered him. "That aside," Al3x4 began, "The point of starting this chat was everybody's thoughts on trying this out. All in favor?"

"Yo!"

"We're in."

"Nothing better to do..."

"Let's see what we can get away with!"

"Carpe Diem!"

"Vamos!"

"I guess it's unanimous then. Okay, let's get set up and install before linking on in...let's twenty minutes so everyone can finish anything they need done." Al3x4 said before everyone, including herself, logged out of the chat room excitedly, even depressed Kirito. Opening up the packages they'd all received-in the case of Chiji, she had brought hers along just in case she and Roman wanted to play-they plugged in the DLC dongles they'd received along with simple, voice recognition bonus codes into their respective NerveGear. Letting the machines download everything took about three minutes or so, depending on connection strength.

Roman's fathers, although a little confused and suspicious about why their son's old employer was doing contacting their son and his friends _now_ , allowed the two teenagers to play as long as they got off at a reasonable time to experience the real world like children should. Dhrair connected her phone's alarm to her NerveGear via wireless connection so she could exit SAO before it was time for lights out. Kirito just read over everything important involving the NerveGear so he didn't break it somehow.

After everything was said and done, the loading and preparing, they all put on their NerveGear with looks of varying excitement levels and cocky attitudes. "Rinku Kaishi/Inizio collegamento/Inicio enlace/Mulai tautan/Link start!" They all said as one, they're bodies losing all higher brain function and their minds entering a large, environmentally differing, virtual world consisting of an _enormous_ one hundred-floored castle in the sky.

 **Argus office building, just after DRYBACK links in**

A sincere and devilishly proud smirk crossed the face of the man behind the expansion content the beta-testing guild was currently using, knowing his plan was almost complete. _Time to move the queen..._ His index finger was seen from up close from the keyboard's perspective as he pressed the Enter key. _And check!_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! SAO lacks characters an' a good plot. Kirito's supposed to be a Gary Stue that didn't get finished, Asuna's a failure at a strong female figure, Lisbeth an' Klein're just comic relief, Agil's the only guy of African descent an' Silica's there to appease the people into lolicon. The canon is interestin' to watch if ya don't care 'bout the lack'o story or actual characters, but as a writer an' a manga/anime fan that sorta shit feels offensive to the viewers. It had such promise: a bunch'o people trapped in a virtual world an' workin' to escape it. Not unheard of nor overused, it's a story that's very adult an' the entire premise revolves 'round a dark story that coulda used some humor without losin' its true nature.

But the guy 'hind SAO didn't want that! He ruined a wonderfully made story by makin' it child-friendly! I'm not sayin' that's a bad thing, but if you're gonna make a story revolvin' 'round people dyin' an' bein' trapped in a world where death's almost guaranteed, ya can't sugarcoat it or make it seem like it's no big deal! Also, the faces of when damage's done's stupid! It was said-where, I can't remember-somewhere in canon that the players' pain reception was removed to not take away from the gameplay or the experience, yet the faces look injured, agonized or sufferin'... _what?!_

THE WHOLE ANIME AN' MANGA'S BASED ON DEUS EX MACHINAS, GARY STEWS/MARY SUES, AN' PLOT ARMOR! I can't say the whole series sucks, 'cause the humor's...decent compared to other series, the fight scenes aren't too shabby an' the art-style's just under gorgeous in my opinion. _However_ , those're no excuse for the lack'o execution'o the story or creation'o characters! If ya don't agree with me, that's fine an' I respect ya'll's opinion, but I won't be quieted just 'cause someone doesn't like my choices.

Regardin' my characters an' how I made 'em out, I'd say they weren't the worst, but I'm biased. Roman's a case'o adopted son of a gay couple, which I _never_ see in any stories on for shame! Y-it's a blacksmith in a village where people ask for 'im to make 'em stuff outta their metal garbage, his preference in literature bein' dark an' his personality kinda obnoxious yet carin'. Al3x4's a teacher whose not gonna take bullshit from anybody an' acts as the unofficial leader'o DRYBACK. Dhrair's a nerd/geek with the attitude of a bitch an' a will to match it, makin' 'er a strong female figure along with Al3x4 an' Chiji.

I warned ya'll that my stories're intertwined, minor references an' major crossovers alike. Shiro, Sora, Chiji an' Kirito're all from the same nation, general domesticity an' world so the likelihood they wouldn't meet in reality's basically zero. Many'o ya mighta noticed I used characters based in countries other than Japan, an' that's 'cause videogame producers've been known to send their products to other countries to make sure the content reaches out to just 'bout everyone. The fact Kayaba's made friends'o DRYBACK's to make a point that villains aren't _always_ bad people, that they're people as well an' aren't doin' evil shit just 'cause it's evil. Also, DRYBACK's made up'o gamers who were the best at playin' 'is game, meanin' he'd need especially their opinion on what needs to be altered or improved upon.

Not a lotta questions I can think of so as always: thanks for bein' 'ere, R&R, no flamin' my ass(It burns), constructive criticism, an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!


End file.
